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Dr. Moleskine, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love My Journal

By day, UK-based Neal Dench is a mild-mannered project manager and technical writer. By night, he assumes his secret identity of Mr. Porkpop, a fearless crusader in the war against... uhm... technical... and, er... project stuff.... *cough* Is this mic on...? Okay, I confess. I wanted to put a spotlight on journalling and Moleskines, and he was just the perfect chap. - DJ

The key to keeping a successful and effective journal is to make sure the writing process is an enjoyable one. By using materials that make writing a pleasure, and by giving yourself the freedom to do what suits you, rather than conforming to traditional diary formats, this can be easier than it sounds. In this article, I'll explain some of the materials and methods I've used to reinvigorate my journal writing in recent months.

I think we owe it to ourselves to make some record of our lives. I hate the idea of waste in general, and I know how much of my time, how many thoughts, ideas, and memories, would be lost forever if I didn't write at least some of it down. Consequently, I have written journals on and off for around 25 years now; I have recorded my thoughts in diaries and PDAs, written regularly every night, written on an occasional basis, and yet, until now, never been satisfied with my efforts, often giving up altogether after only a few months. My diary often descended into a mundane list of things that no-one, not even me, was interested in. What did I watch on TV? What homework did I do? Who cares! When I wasn't writing lists, my diary became an excuse to descend into maudlin self-pity. Sure, life isn't all roses, and a diary can be a useful medium for sounding off about the world and working off your everyday frustrations, but it's all too easy to overdo it, and ultimately that's not good for the soul. It doesn't make for very interesting re-reading either!

So what has changed things recently? Why am I happy with my journaling efforts now? One simple word: Moleskine. Now, before you stop reading, I know how tritely 2005 that sounds, so my aim in this article is to explain why the Moleskine works for me, and tell you a little about how I use it.

For those not already in the know, a Moleskine (the correct pronunciation is "Mo-leh-skeen-eh" but I confess to being unable to think of it as anything other than "Moleskin") is a distinguished hardback notebook with a black oilskin cover, a cotton bookmark, an elastic closure, and an expandable pocket in the back for keeping stamps, money, photographs, or whatever else takes your fancy. Moleskines come in small or large sizes, and with blank, ruled or squared paper. There are also sketchbooks, diaries, reporters' notebooks, address books, and so on, the total number of variations adding up to quite a sizeable range. My journals are kept in small plain notebooks, and I also have a large ruled notebook for longer pieces of writing.

On removing the plastic wrapper, you will find that every Moleskine has a short "history" of the notebook slipped into its pocket. This history does its best to convince you that this is the same notebook that was used by intellectuals and artists of the likes of Hemingway, Van Gogh, Matisse, and Chatwin; a piece of marketing that the manufacturers, Modo & Modo, could arguably have omitted. Opinions about the Moleskine seem to divide into two opposing camps: ardent fans who feel that the Moleskine's quality justifies its price, and sceptics who can't understand why you would want to spend so much on a notebook. It will probably come as no surprise that I fall into the first of these groups.

What drew me to the Moleskine in the first place? Was it all that stuff about Hemingway and Matisse? Of course not. Was it the thriving Moleskine internet community? Well, perhaps all the online enthusiasm helped persuade me to part with money, but it wasn't what made me buy another, and another, and I had coveted a Moleskine for several years before I'd even heard of Moleskinerie or 43Folders. To be honest, the biggest attraction for me was a sort of nostalgic appeal. People often say "they don't make them like they used to", and yet here, in the form of a small (albeit quite expensive) notebook, was the exception that proved the rule. As a child, I was captivated by all the old notebooks we had at home, some belonging to my parents in their youth, and some belonging to their parents or even grandparents. There were books for random thoughts, books that my Dad had used for his projects, sketch books, autograph books, diaries, some rich with the ideas of others, some empty, all with that same musty "old book" smell, and all of them with an overwhelming sense of potential. Like boxes of old photographs, they were something from a past age, that somehow was no longer available to me. Now here, in the form of the Moleskine, was my own opportunity to create something similar.

What surprises me is that the initial rush of enthusiasm for the Moleskine hasn't gone away. I've kept on writing. Why haven't my little black books just become the latest repository for boring lists and depressed recollections? I think it's partly down to a sense of freedom. My Moleskine has no boundaries, not even lines (I use the small plain notebook), and so doesn't try to confine what I do in it. Feel the need for a sketch? No problem. Want to write sideways, rather than from top to bottom? That's OK. Try doing those things on a PDA. Because I'm not confined by a diary format, I need only write a sentence, if that's all it takes. Alternatively, I can write pages and pages if I'm so inclined. My Moleskine even gives me the freedom to write nothing at all if I want, which is something a diary doesn't, with its pages and pages of empty days constantly reminding me of events left unrecorded.

I've also found that I write about different things, and I don't necessarily just write for myself, and perhaps this change is the most crucial. My diary is no longer about what I did today; it's about what I might want to remember tomorrow. And it's no longer for my eyes alone. If my wife or kids (or just about anyone else) want to have a flick through, that's fine. Perhaps that restricts what I might want to say a little, but it also makes me think harder about what I want to put in my Moleskine, and the end result is that I have something that is a more enjoyable read â€“ something that I'm happy to pick up and read myself â€“ and that, surely, is the whole point. These days, my diary can contain anecdotes, funny things people have said, jokes, interesting websites, ideas that I have read about on the web, or anything else that takes my fancy.

And then there's the quality of the paper in a Moleskine. Get a good pen â€“ I don't particularly care for all the debates about which pen is best, which pens cause the least bleed-through, which produce archival quality writing, and so on, just get a pen that you enjoy writing with â€“ and write on some Moleskine paper. It will make you fussy about the paper you use whenever you're not buried in the pages of your Moleskine. Yes, these things are expensive, but for a reason.

A lot of people talk about Moleskine "hacks", or tips on how to put Moleskines to the best use , and I use a few of them myself, mainly to help me refer to old entries. They've become so ingrained into my daily journal writing that I don't really think of them as hacks any more.

I put a page number in the bottom right hand corner of each double page spread.

I use a basic table of contents, starting on the first double page spread in the book, and then flipping over to the last double page when that's full. The table of contents just lists each page number in the book, together with the major topics of conversation on that page. If I keep my writing as small as possible, I can fit most of the table of contents at the beginning of the Moleskine.

I use "Moleskine hyperlinks" to relate entries together. For instance, if I write down a joke that I want to remember, I'll link back to the last joke that I wrote down, and also put a forward reference from that older entry to the new one. That way, if I want to find all the jokes that I've written down, all I have to do is find one of them, and then follow the chain in either direction.

The first two hacks I'm religious about. Every page gets a page number, and every page has an entry in the table of contents. I only use hyperlinks when they occur to me. My nature is such that I could become obsessed with making sure that everything was perfectly linked with everything else, even to the point of linking between different Moleskines. So my answer is to just not stress about it. If a related entry occurs to me, and I can find it in, say, 30 seconds or so, then I'll add a link. If I can't, then I leave it. I also tend to keep 2 or 3 blank Post-It notes on the inside front cover, just so that I always have some on me, and a piece of blotting paper in the back pocket, for when I'm using a fountain pen.

You can find out more details about these and other Moleskine hyperlinks over at 43Folders, as well as many other places on the internet.

I hope I've managed to convey a little about how I use my Moleskines, and about why I'm so enthusiastic about them. For me, the combination of immediacy, permanency, and quality in these little black books has provided me with the means to write a journal that I am happy with, and have a bond with. That's something that I've never had before, whether my journal was kept in a Lett's diary, on a PDA, or a file on a computer. I have a feeling I'll be going back to the shop for more Moleskines for a long time to come.

I like Esterbrooks, the "common man" fountain pen. You can find reconditioned ones on Ebay for $25. And you can swap out the nib for a different size. I use a fine accountant's style nib for my Skines.

I keep a different sort of journal in cheap spiral notebooks. Those are my morning pages, a la The Artist's Way. There's probably a lot of stuff in those that I'd like to keep. I just made the decision not to put a lot of value on those pages. As for the Skines, I have a large daily diary that I'd like to use as a nature journal (and I'm having mixed results here.) There's a standard plain Skine that I use for thoughts that I want to be more permanent. I have a small weekly planner from last year that I've filled with quotes and drawings. And I have a small Apica that I use for thoughts on my GTD system (which sometimes can stop those urges to tweak.)

I love the idea of a commonplace book. I wish I had more examples of these, because I've never known anyone who used one.

I use my Moleskines for most of my writing; journalling, drafts, notes on books etc.

To keep things in some sort of order I number my pages and make an index right at the back. I start at the top of the last page, work my way down to the bottom and then flip back a pages and start from the top of that. I don't have to worry about how much room I need. Of course, I don't bother indexing things like "Shopping list".

Because notebooks (not just Moleskines) open to a double paged spread, I save a little time by only putting a numbering the right hand page. When I come to indexing, the left hand page is a (e.g 24a) and the right hand one is b (e.g. 24b).

It's hard for an artist to not to be swayed by the thought of using the same notebook as Van Gogh and Matisse. The thought of standing in their shoes even for a moment thrills me.

Thank you for the thought of something to leave your family. I have been thinking about putting a book together for my baby to have as a record of his childhood long after I'm gone. Scrapbooks and keepsakes have their places, but this is much more archival for sketches and writing. A beautiful place to record memory, first words and first steps.

"It's hard for an artist to not to be swayed by the thought of using the same notebook as Van Gogh and Matisse. The thought of standing in their shoes even for a moment thrills me."

I'll admit that this also was the reason why I purchased a Moleskine sketchbook last week. I couldn't understand what the big deal was about these books so I just went and bought one.

For a long time, for my sketchbooks, I've bought wire ring bound ones because I prefer to have the paper flat without constantly having to press down the opposite page while drawing, which usually is the case with bound sketchbooks. Also pages will fall out of a bound sketchbook if they have been opened and shut repeatedly. The wire bound sketchbooks are not easy to put in a pocket because of snags or bulk.

So far the moleskine has none of these problems. It lays flat when opened but the pages don't come loose and there is no wire ring binding to snag or get in the way. Perhaps these problems will come back the more I use the sketchbook but time will tell.

There is much to be said about the, possibly fictional, idea of these same notebooks being used by famous artists. Also the idea, well explained in the article, of the sense of history and something for posterity that these books evoke. So far I've had some of my best practice sketches in this sketchbook that I've had in some months. :)

I have been journaling in a moleskine for the last two months, and I, like the author, think that the quality of the moleskine definitely justifies the price. I've had lots of different notebooks in the past, yet this is the first one that really feels like it's my own. It's fun to write on the paper, and I know that unlike the other journals I've used, it likely won't fall apart from the heavy use that I put it to. The bottom line is that writing has become a special experience, and that means that I keep doing it.

Other than the feel of the paper, the overall quality of a Moleskine was something I didn't really touch on in the article. Certainly it's sturdiness and ability to lay flat are big advantages, though I think I've become so used to this that it never occurred to me to mention it!

I've never seen a Moleskine let alone written in one but I strongly resonated with your piece on journaling. I've kept a journal for the last sixteen years and in the last three years haven't missed a day. One of the keys for me was just as you said, making the act of writing an enjoyable experience. I have nice bound journal with heavy cream colored paper that I write in with a Platinum brand fountain pen. It is of Japanese make and writes an impossibly fine line that I love.

I also like writing in my journal for the space it puts me in. Writing in my journal is a moment of solitude. The time it takes to form each letter and the sound of the pen on the paper is my daily meditation. Keeping it on paper has permanance. I know my journals will outlast me by years and years. This makes me pause and think about what I will write each day.

How do people feel about adding adornments to the exterior of their moleskines as a way of identifying individual books? I am beginning to get a collection now and picking the right book when they all look the same is a problem,not huge I know,but what do you do about it? Ive tried writing on the spine with white ink without much success,sticky labels seem to lack imagination and dare I say it asthetic finess!

I've used the stickers that they provide, but not to any great extent. When I start to get a sizable collection of old notebooks, that's probably not going to be enough. Perhaps some mark on the spine would be best, if old notebooks are going to end up on a bookshelf somewhere?

The thing is that the good old moleskines look so good that the method of labelling needs to be in keeping. This is a bit sad I know, and is just the sort of thing that would cause many people who dont posses one to curl a lip in disdain, as well as giving us moleskinners a bad name.
I have tried the silver marker pen, but as you say it did not stay on for long.
Anyway I must leave it to you for any other ideas. Iam just slipping on my anorak to go out and jot down a few train numbers!
I wonder if a book plate would stay on?
Cheers Nick

I've been lusting after my own hot foil stamping machine (like this one) to mark my sketchbooks, cloth- and leather-bound photo albums, etc. It seems like there should be less expensive ones out there somewhere. Or maybe the local print shop would do hot stamping for a reasonable fee?

One thing that I've done with my first notebook (I only have 2 pages left til it retires!) to mark it is I wrote sideways on the anti-spine (the longside with the edge of all the pages) and I just took a black sharpie and wrote out "2005-01-21" (the date I started writing in it) across it. I'm thinking of also adding some small symbol on the edge of the pages to identify it as a writing journal (as opposed to sketchbook, etc).

One of the things I really like about the Moleskines is their color coding when you buy them. So I decided, what the hay, I want to continue that. My solution was to draw an 1/8" line, in the color that matches the Moleskine product coding, across the right hand, long edge "spine" of the book. You just hold the book tightly closed and draw the line across the pages from the front cover to the back cover, if you get what I mean. Of course this doesn't help with viewing them from the spine but if you did the same thing on the top edge of the book you would only have to tip the notebook out slightly to glance at the top edge and see the color, date, title, etc. that you write on the page edges.

I use one of the electronic Dymo labellers and put the label on the back page in a bottom corner. Easy enought to find for my purposes and discreet too. One of the notebooks is for the new job that I recently started filling in for, for which I have to keep copious notes. As the department has a long name I abbreviate the label to DDS Ref1. Other Moleskines have Gen Ref1, Gen Notes1 & Gen Notes2 etc. Gen being short for General. The holidays will be upon us soon so there will be a label with the 3 letter reference of the airport that I flew into and the year after that.

Great post. I've had my pocket Moleskine notebook for about a month now. When I first learned of Moleskines months ago, I basically said, "That's stupid. 10 dollars for a tiny notebook?"

After having my own for a month now, I fully understand why people love them. They're high quality, they have the feeling of an "old book", and they are very personal. I've tried keeping a diary / journal / thought book before, and failed miserably.

To me the Moleskine is like a friend. You can tell it anything and, while it doesn't talk back, it allows you to get feedback from your inner self where all the good stuff really is and where all the answers are.

When I can't confide in anyone, I confide in my Moleskine and that makes it dear to my heart and as close as I need it to be.

Actually, I'd already seen your post, since I subscribe to your blog via Bloglines already. Thanks for following up, and for the link to this post in your article. Glad that you're having such a positive experience with your Moleskine.
--
Neal | http://porkpop.blogspot.com/

***ndench wrote: My diary is no longer about what I did today; it's about what I might want to remember tomorrow. And it's no longer for my eyes alone. If my wife or kids (or just about anyone else) want to have a flick through, that's fine. Perhaps that restricts what I might want to say a little, but it also makes me think harder about what I want to put in my Moleskine, and the end result is that I have something that is a more enjoyable read â€“ something that I'm happy to pick up and read myself â€“ and that, surely, is the whole point.***

Just recently I purged my bookshelves of a collection of sporadically kept diaries, project books, and notebooks with a month or six weeks worth of morning pages. These were all intensely private things, and I would have never dreamed of showing them to anyone. As I flipped through these books, trying to decide if there was anything I needed to salvage before I recycled them, I was struck by how often they turned negative and bitter. The fact that no one was ever going to see what I was writing apparently gave me licence to vent and spew.

I realize that such writing can be cathartic and has its place, but I never intended my diary/journal/creativity exercise to be a therapy session (though I understand the morning pages can be just that). I always intended something more along the lines of the commonplace book: something I'd enjoy leafing through and rereading. Very little of what I'd written over the years qualified.

Your article has really got me thinking about what I write and, more importantly, what I want from my writing. I've never really stuck to one journal or one project for more than a few months (if I'm lucky), and perhaps the insularity and "just say whatever, it doesn't matter" mentality is a contributing factor. As you said, knowing someone could be reading what you write and being comfortable with that can give you some focus.

My first daughter just turned one a few months ago, and I'd love to have something sitting on my shelf that she as a curious nine-year-old could pull down and poke through, something we could talk and laugh about together.

I came to this site initially because I thought the productivity hints and templates were pretty cool. I'd abandoned planners after years of always having one because the mainstream systems no longer seemed to fit my my work and lifestyle. I liked the D*I*Y* ethic, and I thought there might be something useful I could cobble together out of everyone's great ideas. (My new planner is still a work in progress, but it's slowly taking shape.)

But what I have also found is a group of creative people who seem to be interested in a lot of the same things I am, or more accurately, was, before I got "too busy" and let the everyday grind get in the way. I appreciate the articles and posts that remind me of all the things I enjoy that I've set aside in the past couple of years. Even better, the articles have helped me think about why I set these things aside in the first place and how I might make a more successful, enjoyable stab at fostering a little more creativity in my own life.

As soon as I can afford a moleskine (I've been holding out for a valentine, anniversary or birthday gift.. hint.. hint...) I know exactly what I want to do with it. I would like to do adaptations of some of the line drawings I'd been collecting of our baby (who also turned one not so very long ago) along with all the memories I've been making note of in the last year.

And now it looks like we are having a new baby and will have a lot more firsts to capture!

The books are not sold here, but I've held and felt the pages of one, and have to agree that they are worth the cost.

I've been hooked on these for a few months now, and did quite an extensive internet research on usable hacks. My favorite models are the squared and blank pocket book, and the blank reporter notebook, as well as the small blank or squared cahier for individual projects or trips. Here's what I came to (and this is just my implementation of other peoples' ideas):

1. Writing implements
Pilot G-2 is the smoothest, darkest, silkiest pen around. Best for general use. Mini version available, called XS or Pixie.
Pilot G-TEC-C4 writes the finest line ever. Great for stuffing lots on info on a small paper landscape.
Fisher Space Pen, for the adventurous ones. Very pocketable and strong, impervious to the elements. Nevertheless, in regards to the writing pleasure, it's still just a ball pen.
Leadholders (2 mm, 2B) are classy and versatile for writing and sketching.
Mechanichal pencils (0,7 mm, HB) are really fine for writing, especially on the blank paper Moleskines.
Pencils are the way to go for the traditionalist, the artist and the cost-concious out there. You do, however, have to carry a knife or sharpenner to keep going anywhere. Best to chose a good brand like Staedler, and a B or 2B grade for softness and darkness.

2. Labeling Moleskines
Since I use three or four Moleskines at the same time, for different uses, I paint the rims of the pages with a highlighter. Just close the book, hold it tight, and run the thing through. Green is for my geocaching logbook, orange for my diary/planner, yellow for my profession, and blank for my personal use Moleskine. Can spot them a mile away.

3. Extras within
3x5 sticky notes on the front inside cover used for lists and handouts.
3M page color labels on the back inside cover for marking sections on the Moleskine.
Half a dozen 3x5 ruled index cards used for notes, page markers and blotter use (this is important with the G-2 pens).
Numbering pages seems to be mandatory, and I did it, but never actually got to use them as hyperlinks. Don't bother anymore with those.

4. Organising the pages
I just start by leaving a few pages blank at the beggining, for the more permanent stuff like calendar and dated matters. Just draw the calendar myself for the next three months or so, depending on the life expectation of the book. Next comes the main section, which I will divide only when needed to create a new category. The last pages ae set aside for contacts and other type of reference material. Doodles get to be backward written from the end of the main section. Important lists go to the main chapter, shopping and transient lists go on the sticky notes or index cards.

5. Wallet use
When travelling light, just stick VISA and ATM cards on the back cover pocket, ID and car documents amongst the last pages, close it up with the elastic band, and it's good to go.

6. Miscellaneous
A knot tied at the end of the page marker keeps it from sliding with the book closed, and from unravelling. Simple and efective.
Reward offered on the first page: a brand new Moleskine for whoever returns mine, if lost. Or, if preferred, a couple of gin tonics and a coffee appeal to lots of people (to me, it does).

J. Diniz wrote "Green is for my geocaching logbook" as though I should know what he was talking about, so I had to find out.http://www.geocaching.com/
Man, that looks cool! My father-in-law just bought himself a GPS unit, and there are a dozen of caches within minutes of his house. Finally, something to do during our annual visit to the inlaws! Thanks!

Geocaching.com already has you logging your finds (or not founds). There really is no need no track down all the piece of info regarding a cache (type, coordinates, name, location, etc.) But it is nice to keep a sort of a diary in which to register additional data about your geocaching expeditions, stuff that may be a little too personal to get into the site. Your stories.
And for this, nothing beats a Moleskine's blank page. No information is too much, no info is too less. Write just what you want.

The whole purpose is to activate your memory in the future, not to keep a scientific track log.

Geocaching is, as far as I can tell, just a high-tech version of letterboxing.

It's also how my partner's sister's fiance proposed--they're both into geocaching, and his uncle likes creating caches, so he asked his uncle to make a special one and then they went out and did it and the ring was at the end...

Y'know, I actually journal for the opposite reason: because it IS where I can get things out that I could never tell to another a person. Things that are important to me that I want to remember and be able to re-read in years to come but are too private or too mushy to tell another person. Things I want to remember--maybe funny quotes that wouldn't mean anything to someone else reading them but I can remember them. That sort of thing.

I have never written a journal to be something for someone else to read. It's for my eyes only.

I just bought my first Moleskine last week. I went to Borders and bought the small sketchbook, but took it back and exchanged it for a ruled journal when I realized the sketch paper hated my fountain pens. So I've been using the pocket size ruled journal for a week now, and I'm really enjoying it. It's small enough to take with me everywhere, and the paper feels nice. I'm only writing on one side of each page, though, due to slight bleed-through.

I like Moleskines but really, they are over-hyped marketing and too expensive. Moleskine can get away with this because they have literally no other formidable compeition. Most notebook paper and journals are pretty crass and Moleskine isn't. But I write way too much to spend more than $10, significantly more, on such a small journal that I'll go through so quickly.

I'm new to this site, and like someone else has already mentioned, I was caught up in the downloadable templates for my new filofax more than anything else really.

I have a journal myself and I love writing in it, it's just a cheap one from Woolworths but has a nice 'feel' to it and like I said, was cheap.

I've been looking at Moleskines for a while but couldn't figure out why they were so expensive and whether they would be any different to my cheap Woolies one....seems I was in denial! After reading all these comments I want to rush out and buy one! Good job it's midnight!

I would also admit that over the past year or so I have written such negative drivel that I cringe when I read it back. I was going to throw it out or burn it as I hated the thought of someone reading it and thinking that I was some bitter woman with a life of regrets when really I'm the total opposite! The reason for my pessamistic rantings was that my job was so awful, it drained me of all confidence and worth...looking back I paid it far too much energy and emotion but that's easy to say now that I've got a new job that I love. I needed somewhere to dispel all the hatred and despair that I was feeling at the time and it's all in that book. I've decided not to throw it away but to continue with it. When it's finished I will put a note in the front warning any reader with emotional tendancies to step away and read no further! It has taught me a valuable lesson - and hopefully it will teach the reader the same lesson - nothing is worth making yourself feel that awful over! I wasted a year at that job and for what? I almost destroyed my very being - I know that sounds dramatic but you only have to read a few pages to realise that it's probably an understatement!

My new job and new fresh outlook on life has drastically changed what I write now. I add photographs and snippets of interesting things (usually my horoscopes when they depict great things for me!) and it's filling up with optimism, positive thoughts and inspirational quotes.

And the lesson learnt is that no matter what, my life will never be that dark again! I have learnt to appreciate things and myself more than ever. No-one has the right to treat me that way or make me feel as bad as that again - and they wont. Ever.

So my fountain pens are out as usual, my filofax will be starting to fill up with all the fantastic templates I've found on this site, my heart is light and I'm eager to end this journal on a high note and buy a moleskine to continue with my ramblings...

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